H. RES. 6 ADOPTING THE RULES FOR THE 116 CONGRESS …

H. RES. 6 ADOPTING THE RULES FOR THE 116th CONGRESS

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Title I. Rules of the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress

Section 101. Adoption of the Rules of the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress. This section provides that the Rules of the 115th Congress are the Rules of the 116th

Congress, except for the amendments contained in section 102 of the resolution and orders contained in the resolution.

Section 102. Changes to the Standing Rules.

Notification of Convening of the House. Subsection (a) clarifies that Delegates and the Resident Commissioner must be notified of action regarding the convening of the House pursuant to clause 12 of rule I.

Voting by Delegates and the Resident Commissioner in the Committee of the Whole. Subsection (b) extends the same powers and privileges of Members to Delegates and the Resident Commissioner when in the Committee of the Whole. The subsection also provides that any recorded vote in the Committee of the Whole, decided within a margin where the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner may have had a decisive impact on the final outcome of the vote, will be re-conducted in the House.

Allowing Delegates and the Resident Commissioner to Serve on Joint Committees. Subsection (c) provides that Delegates and the Resident Commissioner may serve on joint committees.

Admittance to the Hall of the House. Subsection (d) adds Delegates-elect, the Resident Commissioner-elect, contestants in elections for Delegate or the Resident Commissioner, and Governors of the Territories to the list of people who are permitted in the Hall of the House.

Office of Speaker. Subsection (e) amends rule IX to provide that a resolution causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker shall be privileged if offered at the direction of a party caucus or conference. This change does not otherwise alter the application of rule IX to privileged resolutions. A resolution causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker offered at the direction of a party caucus or conference remains subject to the notice and debate procedures in clause 2(a) of rule IX. This change does not apply to a resolution reported as privileged by the Committee on Ethics pursuant to clause 5(a)(5) of rule XIII.

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Designating Committee on Oversight and Reform. Subsection (f) changes the name of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Designating Committee on Education and Labor. Subsection (g) changes the name of the Committee on Education and the Workforce back to the Committee on Education and Labor.

Education and Labor Jurisdiction Clarification. Subsection (h) clarifies that the Committee on Education and Labor's jurisdiction includes the general management of the Department of Education and the general management of the Department of Labor. This change is intended to clarify the Committee's existing jurisdiction over the organization and administration of the departments, and it not intended to alter jurisdiction over programs within the departments.

Committee Oversight Plans. Subsection (i) amends the requirements for committee oversight plans. The subsection requires the chair of each standing committee (with the exception of the Committees on Appropriations, Ethics, and Rules), in consultation with the ranking minority member, to prepare and submit an oversight plan to the Committees on House Administration and Oversight and Reform by March 1 of the first session of a Congress. Finally, the Committee on Oversight and Reform, in consultation with House leadership of both parties, is required to submit the oversight plans to the House by April 15th of the first session of a Congress with any recommendation it has for the effective coordination of oversight plans.

The subsection favors the standard of previous Congresses over the 115th Congress, requiring an oversight plan as opposed to the 115th Congress's new authorization and oversight plan. The March 1st submission deadline is an extension from the prior February 15th deadline. The subsection also replaces the requirement for a committee meeting on the plan with a requirement that the chair consult with the ranking minority member, make the plan available to each member of the committee for at least seven calendar days, and include any committee member's views received before the submission deadline. This subsection also modifies which committees will initially receive these plans, removing the Committee on Appropriations. Finally, the Committee on Oversight and Reform's April 15th submission deadline to the House is in line with the subsection's new timeline.

Activity Reports. Subsection (j) amends language in clauses 1(d)(2)(B) and 1(d)(2)(C) of Rule XI referencing authorization and oversight plans to conform with the changes described in subsection (i).

Oversight Over the Executive Office of the President. Subsection (k) clarifies the Committee on Oversight and Reform's existing special oversight authority over all operations of government.

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Oversight and Reform Committee Depositions. Subsection (l) removes the requirement that Members be present during counsel-led depositions, returning to the standard of the 111th Congress.

Removing Certain Committee Term Limits. Subsection (m) removes term limits for committee chairs as well as members of the Committee on the Budget.

Rules of Committees. Subsection (n) extends the deadline for committees to make their rules available to the public from 30 days to 60 days after the chair's election at the beginning of a Congress. This change is intended to grant committees adequate time to organize, as some committees do not have a full complement of members at the start of a Congress.

Committee Markup Notice. Subsection (o) modifies the three-day notification requirement for committee markups by specifying that Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays, except when the House is in session, do not count toward fulfillment of the notification requirement.

Annual Ethics Training. Subsection (p) extends the annual ethics training requirement to all Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner. The previous rule required new Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioner to attend ethics training, and staff to attend ethics training annually.

Considering Criminal Trial Evidence in Ethics Investigation. Subsection (q) authorizes the Committee on Ethics to consider as evidence the transcripts and exhibits from trial where a Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner was convicted by a court of record for a crime related to the subject of the investigation by the Committee on Ethics.

Consensus Calendar. Subsection (r) creates a Consensus Calendar, and mandates that the Speaker must designate, and the House must consider, at least one measure on the Consensus Calendar during any week in which the House convenes (except at the beginning and the end of a Congress). The designation is accomplished via an announcement from the chair immediately prior to a measure's consideration. Measures may be considered in any manner otherwise available under the rules to satisfy this requirement.

This subsection also provides that, to be eligible for placement on the Consensus Calendar, a measure must accumulate 290 cosponsors, and must not have been reported by its primary committee of jurisdiction. Once this cosponsorship threshold is reached the sponsor of the measure may, while the House is in session, submit to the Clerk a written motion to place the measure on the Consensus Calendar. If the above-mentioned conditions have been met, the Clerk will note the motion's submission in the Congressional Record of that day, and enter the motion on a comprehensive list of Consensus Calendar Motions (which will be viewable on the Clerk's website). Once a measure that was the subject of a properly filed motion has maintained 290 cosponsors for a cumulative total of 25 legislative days, it is placed on the Consensus Calendar, where it remains until it is considered in the House or reported by its

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primary committee. The 25-legislative day count begins on the legislative day after a proper motion is filed, and the required 25 legislative days need not run contiguously to be counted. Any day on which the measure has less than 290 cosponsors shall not count towards the 25-day cumulative total. A Consensus Calendar motion is considered withdrawn if the measure that is the subject of such motion is reported by its primary committee before the measure has been placed on the Consensus Calendar. However, once the measure has been placed on the Consensus Calendar it remains there even if it falls below 290 cosponsors after such placement.

Recorded Votes in Rules Committee Reports. Subsection (s) provides that the requirement for recorded votes to be depicted in committee reports applies to reports from the Committee on Rules on a rule, joint rule, or the order of business only to the maximum extent practicable, due to the constricted timeframe under which such reports are prepared and filed. This change is intended to ensure special rules ? and thus the floor schedule ? cannot be delayed due to a typographical error in the recorded votes depiction.

72-Hour Text Availability. Subsection (t) requires that legislative text be made publicly available for a full 72 hours before it is considered in the House. Previously, legislative text could not be considered before "the third day" on which it had been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner. The new 72-hour availability requirement would apply to the same types of text to which the former three-day availability rules applied: reports accompanying measures or matters (clause 4(a)(1) of rule XIII); unreported bills and joint resolutions (clause 11 of rule XXI); conference reports (clause 8(a)(1)(A) of rule XXII); and amendments reported from conference in disagreement (clause 8(b)(1)(A) of rule XXII). In all cases, the 72-hour clock would begin to run at the time that the relevant text is made available electronically. The additional language inserted in clause 4(a)(1) of rule XIII regarding the proposed text of a report is intended to ensure that, in the case of reports, the 72-hour clock will begin to run at the time the proposed content of a report (other than any supplemental, minority, additional, or dissenting views described in clause 2(l) of rule XI) is made available electronically.

Macroeconomic Analysis. Subsection (u) removes the requirement that the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation make assumptions, to the extent practicable, regarding changes in macroeconomic variables (often called "dynamic scoring") when preparing estimates on the budgetary effects of major legislation.

Discharge Petitions. Subsection (v) amends the discharge petition process. The subsection expands the number of days on which motions to discharge, following a perfected discharge petition, may be considered by removing the provision that currently restricts motions to discharge to the second and fourth Mondays of a month. Instead, the subsection requires the Speaker to schedule the consideration of a privileged motion to discharge within two legislative days after the day on which a Member who signed the discharge petition announces to the House an intention to offer a motion to discharge. A motion to discharge may only be called up by the Member who gave notice under this rule.

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Private Calendar. Subsection (w) expands the availability of the discretionary call of the Private Calendar beyond the third Tuesday of a month, permitting the Speaker or a designee to call up eligible private measures on any day with sufficient notice. The subsection requires the measure to have been on the Private Calendar for at least seven days, after which the Speaker or a designee may announce to the House an intention to call up the measure. That measure then may be called up two legislative days after the legislative day on which the announcement is made, after the disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only. The level of specificity in timing is intended to ensure that the Official Objectors are able to be on the Floor at the appropriate day and time.

Religious Headdress. Subsection (x) clarifies and maintains the existing prohibition on wearing hats in the Hall of the House, while making express that this prohibition does not include religious headwear. The language for this clarification is modeled on the statutory provision providing for proper decorum during the Pledge of Allegiance, 4 U.S.C. 4.

Quorum in the Committee of the Whole. Subsection (y) clarifies that Delegates and the Resident Commissioner count when establishing a quorum in the Committee of the Whole and when determining if the requisite number are present to request a recorded vote therein. The subsection also instructs the Chair to include Delegates and the Resident Commissioner when determining if Members are provided adequate opportunity to vote. This change conforms clause 6 of rule XVIII to the changes made to the House rules in subsection (b).

Two-Minute Voting in the Committee of the Whole. Subsection (z) provides the Chair of the Committee of the Whole with additional discretion to reduce votes to two minutes, if in the discretion of the Chair Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner would be afforded an adequate opportunity to vote.

Postponability of Certain Votes. Subsection (aa) provides that any vote on an amendment in the House is postponable, as is a vote on ordering the previous question thereon.

Discretion for Five-Minute Votes. Subsection (bb) provides the Speaker with additional discretion to reduce votes to 5 minutes, if in the discretion of the Speaker Members would be afforded an adequate opportunity to vote.

Net Increase in Budget Authority. Subsection (cc) removes the point of order prohibiting amendments to general appropriation bills that propose a net increase in the level of budget authority in a bill. This will allow amendments that increase spending without offsetting that increase, so long as the amendment does not cause the bill to exceed 302(a) or 302(b) budget allocations.

Removing Supermajority Vote. Subsection (dd) removes the requirement that the House agree by at least a 3/5 supermajority in order to raise revenue through additional Federal income taxes. The subsection also removes the requirement that any such measure

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receives an automatic record vote, and provides a technical fix to a cross-reference in clause 5(a)(2) of rule XXI.

Pay-As-You-Go Point of Order. Subsection (ee) reinstates the PAYGO rule from the 111th Congress, with changes to conform with the recent practice of tying the measurement timeline to the calendar year, rather than the last completed budget resolution. As in the 111th Congress, this provision establishes a point of order against any measure that has a net effect of increasing the deficit or reducing the surplus for the current fiscal year, the budget year, and up to nine fiscal years following that budget year. The subsection stipulates that the net budgetary effects of a measure will be determined by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) but provides that if a measure is considered pursuant to a special order that instructs the Clerk of the House to add the measure to another measure passed by the House, then the net budgetary effects of the entire package will be considered. Finally, the subsection provides for exemptions, given an emergency designation.

Banning Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity. Subsection (ff) adds to the Code of Official Conduct a prohibition on discrimination by any Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Banning Sexual Relationships Between Members and Committee Staff. Subsection (gg) extends the prohibition on sexual relationships between members (including Delegates and the Resident Commissioner) and their employees to include members who serve on a committee on which a staffer works, even if that staffer is not his or her direct employee.

Service of Indicted Members in Leadership and on Committees. Subsection (hh) adds to the Code of Official Conduct the standard that a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who has been indicted or formally charged with criminal conduct for a felony offense punishable by at least two years in prison should resign from any committee on which he or she serves, and step aside from any party caucus or conference leadership position the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner holds, until he or she is acquitted or the charges are dismissed or reduced below the previously described threshold.

Banning Members, Officers, and Employees from Sitting on Corporate Boards. Subsection (ii) prohibits Members, Delegates and the Resident Commissioner, officers, and employees of the House from serving as an officer or director of any public company, effective January 1, 2020. The subsection also requires the Committee on Ethics to develop regulations by December 31, 2019, addressing other types of prohibited service or positions that could lead to conflicts of interest.

Suspension of the Debt Limit. Subsection (jj) provides that when the House adopts a budget resolution, a separate joint resolution suspending the Federal debt limit through September 30 of the budget year is deemed to have passed the House by the same vote and is engrossed separately and sent to the Senate.

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Section 103. Separate Orders.

Deposition Authority. Subsection (a) provides the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and each standing committee of the 116th Congress (except for the Committee on Rules) the authority to order the taking of a deposition by a member or counsel of such committee. Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner may participate in all such depositions, but their presence is not required. Depositions taken under this authority are subject to regulations issued by the chair of the Committee on Rules and printed in the Congressional Record.

Providing for Transparency with Respect to Memorials Submitted Pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the United States. Subsection (b) carries forward provisions from the 115th Congress that clarify the procedures of the House regarding the receipt of Article V memorials from the States by directing the Clerk to make each memorial, designated by the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary, electronically available, organized by State of origin and year of receipt, and indicate whether the memorial was designated as an application or rescission.

In carrying out this subsection, it is expected that the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary will be solely charged with determining whether a memorial purports to be an application of the legislature of a state calling for a constitutional convention or rescission of prior applications. The Clerk's role will be entirely administrative. The chair of the Committee on the Judiciary will only designate memorials from state legislatures (and not petitions from individuals or other parties), as it is only state legislatures that are contemplated under Article V of the Constitution.

In submitting each memorial to the Clerk, the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary will include a transmission letter that indicates it has been designated under this subsection of House Resolution 6. The Clerk will make publicly available the memorial and the transmission letter from the chair. Ancillary documentation from the state or other parties is not expected to be publicized.

The chair of the Committee on the Judiciary is also permitted to designate memorials from Congresses prior to the 116th Congress to be made publicly available under the same procedure.

Limitation on Advance Appropriations. Subsection (c) prohibits fiscal year 2019 general appropriation bills or measures continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2019 from making advance appropriations, apart from exceptions designated by the chair of the Committee on the Budget.

Exercise Facilities for Former Members. Subsection (d) continues the prohibition on access to any exercise facility that is made available exclusively to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, former Members, former Delegates, former Resident Commissioners,

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officers, and former officers of the House and their spouses to any former Member, former Delegate, former Resident Commissioner, former officer, or spouse who is a lobbyist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

Numbering of Bills. Subsection (e) reserves the first 10 numbers for bills (H.R. 1 through H.R. 10) for assignment by the Speaker and the second 10 numbers (H.R. 11 through H.R. 20) for assignment by the Minority Leader.

Inclusion of Citations for Proposed Repeals and Amendments. Subsection (f) continues from the 115th Congress a requirement, to the maximum extent practicable, for parallel citations for amendatory instructions to Public Laws and Statutes at Large that are not classified in the U.S. Code.

Broadening Availability of Legislative Documents in Machine-Readable Formats. Subsection (g) continues from the 115th Congress a requirement to instruct the appropriate officers and committees to continue to advance government transparency by taking further steps to publish documents of the House in machine-readable formats.

Subcommittees. Subsection (h) waives clause 5(d) of rule X to allow the Committee on Agriculture up to six subcommittees, which is consistent with authorities in the 114th and 115th Congresses, and the Committee on Financial Services up to seven subcommittees.

Requiring Committee Hearing and Markup on Bills and Joint Resolutions. Subsection (i) provides, effective March 1, 2019, a point of order against the consideration of a bill or joint resolution pursuant to a special order of business reported by the Committee on Rules if such measure has not been reported by at least one committee. The provision also provides a point of order against any bill or joint resolution reported by committee if the report does not contain a list of relevant committee and subcommittee hearings, which includes the designation of at least one such hearing that was used to develop or consider the underlying measure. Finally, the provision provides exceptions to the points of order for continuing resolutions, measures that contain specified emergency designations pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, and measures on the Consensus Calendar designated for consideration pursuant to clause 7(a) of rule XV.

Member Day Hearing Requirement. Subsection (j) requires each standing committee (except for the Committee on Ethics) to hold a Member Day Hearing during the first session of the 116th Congress to hear testimony from Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner ? whether or not they are a member of the committee ? on proposed legislation within its jurisdiction. The subsection permits the Committee on Rules to hold its Member Day Hearing during the second session, in order to receive testimony on proposed changes to the standing rules for the next Congress.

Empaneling Investigative Subcommittee of the Committee on Ethics. Subsection (k) reinstates House Resolution 451 from the 110th Congress, directing the Committee on Ethics to

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